I am fascinated by the signs and symbols of contemporary life, by the relationships among people, the spaces they inhabit and their possessions. My photographs are visual explorations of people, places and things during the last decade of the twentieth century and the beginning of the next. So far I have worked in California, France, and Spain. My color portraits and domestic tableaux are made in collaboration with men and women, girls and boys of all ages. When I began making these images in 1997, I asked subjects to choose a space within their home or its surroundings which reflected their personal identity or sense of self. Now I work differently and mostly create images of groups of people in domestic scenes. Before bringing out the camera, I talk to my subjects extensively about their lives, their homes and their possessions. I take notes as well as snapshots and then return to my studio to think and plan until I have the necessary ingredients for a good image. I’m trying to locate the place where the mythic intersects with the mundane, where dream merges with reality. Doing this, I’m inspired and influenced by many different things, including 17th century genre painting, contemporary cinema, performance and installation. The result, I hope, is a persuasive fiction which combines real appearances with philosophical truth.
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Beth Yarnelle Edwards is an American-born, San Francisco-based fine art photographer who also does editorial work and commissions. Her photographs have been exhibited and published extensively in both the US and Europe. Solo museum exhibitions include Château d’Eau in Toulouse, France and the Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium. Recent publications include the new French book, Est-ce ainsi que les hommes vivent (Editions du Chêne), and the IRIS publication, Masquerade: Women’s Contemporary Portrait Photography. Edwards’ work resides in numerous important institutional collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi. Her most recent project involved photographing homes of all social levels in the Canary Islands for BASA, a Spanish architecture, art and theory magazine
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